Information before ordering
The right, the limit and how to use it.
England and Wales · Retail away from the counter
Fourteen days.
Fourteen days.
Or twelvemonths.
You can cancel a distance purchase within fourteen days of getting it, no reason needed. But if a seller fails to tell you about that right properly before you order, the window stretches by up to a year. It is the rule sellers least like knowing.
- 2018since
- 14days to cancel
- 12months if not told
- 14days to refund
What we do
Four things, rights first
The cancellation right is told to you before you order, because a seller who leaves it out owes it for a year instead of a fortnight.
Selling at a distance
Clothing sold away from a counter, which brings distance selling rules with it.
See the programChanging your mind
The cancellation right, and what happens when a seller gets the information wrong.
See the programGetting your money back
Refunds within fourteen days, and what the refund has to include.
See the programWhere it does not apply
The items the cancellation right does not cover, flagged in advance.
See the program
How it works
How we work
Put the cancellation information in front of a buyer before they are bound rather than in terms nobody opens, refund within fourteen days including the outbound delivery, and flag an exception before a purchase rather than after a cancellation request.
Fourteen days from delivery
Running from when it reaches you.
Refunded within fourteen days
Including standard outbound delivery.
Exceptions flagged early
On the item, before you buy it.
Working together
What things cost
Prices are in pounds sterling and include VAT where it applies. Delivery is shown before you pay, not after.
An order
Priced per item, with delivery shown up front.
- Price shown with VAT
- Delivery cost before payment
- Cancellation right explained
- Dispatch period stated
- Risk ours until delivered
Changing your mind
Fourteen days, no reason required.
- Fourteen days from delivery
- No reason needed
- Refund within fourteen days
- Outbound delivery refunded
- Extended if we got it wrong
What we will not do
Because these are rights, not policies.
- No shortening the fourteen days
- No exception raised afterwards
- No return cost sprung on you
- No withholding outbound delivery
- No reducing statutory rights
Every engagement is quoted after a free consultation. No subscription.
How we work
The rule sellers least like explaining
WAA FASHION LTD was incorporated in England and Wales on 11 May 2018 under company number 11356934, with its registered office at The Clock Tower, 189 Stanmore Hill in Stanmore. The registered activity is retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets, which means selling at a distance rather than over a counter.
Buying something you cannot handle first is a different transaction from buying it in a shop, and the law reflects that. A consumer who buys at a distance may cancel within fourteen days of the goods reaching them, without giving any reason. That is a statutory right, not a returns policy a seller chooses to offer, and it cannot be shortened by anything written in terms and conditions. The part that very few buyers know, and that sellers rarely volunteer, is the consequence of getting the information wrong. The existence of the right, its conditions, its time limit and how to exercise it must be given before the buyer is bound, and where a trader fails to do that properly, the cancellation period extends by up to twelve months. An omitted sentence therefore costs a year of exposure rather than a warning. Refunds follow within fourteen days of the goods coming back or evidence of their being sent, and must include the cheapest standard outbound delivery the buyer paid. Return postage falls on the buyer only where they were told before ordering. Genuine exceptions exist for personalised goods and for sealed items unsealed for hygiene reasons, and those belong on the page before a purchase rather than in a reply afterwards.
Frequently asked
The questions we get most
How long do I have to change my mind?
Fourteen days from the day the goods come into your possession, and you do not need to give a reason. That is a statutory right for distance purchases rather than a returns policy, which means it cannot be cut down by terms and conditions. It runs from delivery rather than from the order, so a long dispatch time does not eat into it.
What if a seller never told me about that right?
Then the period extends by up to twelve months. The information about the cancellation right, its conditions, its time limit and how to use it has to be given before you are bound by the contract, and a trader who fails to provide it properly ends up owing the right for a year instead of a fortnight. It is the single strongest incentive in distance selling to put the information somewhere people actually read.
Do I get the delivery cost back too?
The outbound delivery, yes, at the cheapest standard rate offered. If you chose an enhanced or express option, the extra above the standard rate is not refundable, but the basic delivery charge is part of what must be reimbursed. A lot of sellers quietly refund only the item price, and that is not what the rules require.
Who pays to send it back?
You do, but only if you were told that before you ordered. If a trader did not inform you about the cost of return before the contract was concluded, the trader bears it. That is a straightforward rule and it is why any seller with sense states the position plainly on the product page rather than hoping the question never comes up.
Are there things I cannot cancel?
Yes, and they are narrower than sellers sometimes suggest. Goods made to your specification or clearly personalised are outside the right, as are sealed goods that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons once they have been unsealed. Those exceptions should be flagged on the item before you buy. An exception produced for the first time after you have asked to cancel is not something to accept quietly.
When will my order arrive?
Within the period stated on the item, and where none is stated, within thirty days of the contract. If that cannot be met, you should be told and you can cancel for a full refund. Until the goods are physically delivered to you, the risk in them stays with the seller, so a parcel lost in transit is the seller's problem and not yours.
Question about an item or an order?
Ask before you buy. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.